Even in the cold winter, i brok 50mpg again.

Awesome! Color me jealous. At least I'm getting almost triple the mpg of my V6 truck I traded in. But short trips kill me.

 

My second tank netted me about 509 miles with a fill up of 11.2 gallons. I guess that works out to about 45 MPG even though the car showed 47 MPG for that tank (I reset my Trip "A" ODO at each tank)

I had to drive for over 80 miles after the last indicator started to flash. Man I wish the fuel gauge was more accurate on this car!

It's been very cold here in L.A. so I hope that, together with the fact that the car only has 1000 miles on it explain the unimpressive mileage.

 

Wish we could say the same. When the temps dropped into the teens here the mileage dropped into the LOW 30's. The wife drives under 3 miles each way to work and the ice never turns off. With the heat and the electric seat warmers the MPG is a lost cause. The low 30's is a long way from the advertised 50! It is back in the low 40's with temps back in the 20-50 range.
Bob

 

Fuel gauge makes me nervous. I know that there should be some 2 gal left after the indicator starts flashing, but who knows....
Filled up today, Michigan winter driving still gets me 43...45 mpg (calculated).

 

Show me the car whose EPA rating assumes use of electric seat warmers for a 3 mile drive... MPG is not a right, but a choice. Coat, gloves, 50ish mpg. Seat warmers, warmup before driving, warm cabin, short drive, low 30's. There is no way to do 50 mpg under the latter conditions.

 

Ouch. Sounds like you need to block your grill & inflate the tires. Today I discovered I've been running them low. Tomorrow morning the air compressor comes out to get them up to 51psi.

 

At my old home I had a 15 mile commute (50% highway) to work and I used to get 55mpg summer and 48mpg in the winter. I moved last year and now have a 32 mile commute to work (also 50% highway). I am now getting 62mpg summer and 55mpg winter. Summer temps are ~70F, with winter temps ~20F.

I do use full grill block in the winter. I run my tires at 54psi summer and 44psi winter. My commute is 70mph highway & 50mph city. My best advice would be to not turn on the heat in the car until coolant temp >155F, which happens about 5 minutes into my drive.

 

In what temps do you have the grill 100% blocked, and when do you find it necessary to start unblocking?

 

I use full grill block with temps below 32F. A long distance highway trip requires unblocking the grill. Temps between 32-45 and I only partially block the grill. Doing this keeps coolant temps below 204F via scangauge. What temp you choose to unblock should depend on trip length and miles spent at high speed.

 

So for example, a trip of about 300+ miles at 70mph - how much block/unblock upper/lower? I'm assuming temps in the high 20's F.

 

For that trip I would do a partial or full unblock of the lower grill. Leaving fully blocked WILL cause overheating above 206F. I remove all my grill block for any highway trip >40 miles.

 

Some of us 100% grill block, all the way into the upper 70's.

Partial block, once temps are higher. All internal temps are still within acceptable limits. Had not one of the mod's mentioned that to me years ago (and 50K miles ago), I wouldn't have believed it.

 

Since the Prius doesn't have a coolant temp gauge, how do you know what the temperature is when you block the grill?

 

I'm basically averaging ~50 mpg (measured). Last three tank fill ups have had measured mpg's of: 48.5, 53.1, and 50.7. Like everyone else, the readout is about 5% higher than the measured mpg's.

 

So do you full block at those outdoor temperatures and if so what coolant temps are you reading? I'd feel safe @70 OAT if my drive was shorter or all city driving. My personal 'accceptable limit' for fluid temp is ~204F. I think the triangle of death comes on around 212F. Also wouldn't the car run more efficiently with coolant temps between 155-184 as opposed to 200F+ where the coolant pump and radiator fan would running?

I have purchased a "ScanGauge II" which shows coolant temperature.

Back to the topic of high winter MPG... a tank of mine from two weeks ago got me 64mpg. Reason is that due to the ice/snow on the roads that week, traffic was crawling at a constant speed of 30-40mpg. Slower speed in winter still = better mpg. Rush hour traffic and bad winter weather are big mpg boosts for me!